The present invention relates to a guide vane for a gas turbine engine, more particularly such a guide vane which defines a plurality of cooling circuits to increase the cooling of the guide vane and to minimize pressure drops of the cooling fluid.
In order to increase the efficiency of a gas turbine engine, the gas temperatures at the exit end of the combustion chamber must be very high. The high temperature exhaust gases exiting from the combustion chamber come into contact with an array of guide vanes located immediately downstream of the combustion chamber exhaust which direct the hot gases onto the turbine stages of the gas turbine engine.
It is known to cool the array of guide vanes by passing a cooling fluid through the interiors of the vanes. The known cooled vanes define multiple cavities which are usually in communication with adjacent cavities such that the cooling fluid will pass sequentially through the cavities. Typically, this requires changes in direction of the cooling fluid of approximately 180.degree., thus generating substantial pressure drops in the cooling fluid which requires an increase in the cooling fluid circulation device.